So you think that Whitman "made" the students perform so well on the PSAT? SATs correlate with SES, test prep, etc.

And Blair magnet students who make up the majority of the NMS routinely take the SAT from middle school on.

Seems like Blair gets the good students and the other DCC schools suffer as a result. But without Blair as an option the situation would probably be even worse.

The numbers, they don't lie.

From reading some of these posts, I would have thought Einstein offered a Whitman-quality education in a more affordable neighborhood. The number of 2010 National Merit Semifinalists from Montgomery schools certainly makes me pause.

1. Montgomery Blair: 40
2. Richard Montgomery: 30
3. Walt Whitman: 24
4. Wootton: 15
5. Winston Churchill: 13
6. Poolesville: 9
7. Bethesda-Chevy Chase: 8
8. Walter Johnson: 7
9. Springbrook: 3

10. Clarksburg: 2
10. Quince Orchard: 2
Tied for 11th
Blake: 1
Rockville: 1
Seneca Valley: 1
Einstein: 1
Watkins Mill: 1

Tied for 12th:
Northwest: 0
Damascus: 0
Gaithersburg: 0
Kennedy: 0
Magruder: 0
Northwood: 0
Paint Branch: 0
Sherwood: 0
Wheaton: 0

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is not a very impressive list of colleges. Especially compared with the Bethesda/Chevy Chase high schools. Just sayin.

full scholarship to Yale
student from the "red zone"

You can make the best out of any situation.

I hate elitists; the only thing that makes them special is their bank account.

I hate haters.

An outsider's perception of Sligo - the school is small (under 500) vs. the 750 students that principals seem to think is ideal. It has the disadvantage of geography - being very close to the middle school magnets (Loiderman, Argyle, Parkland) which allow students to gain access to their special programs by lottery - and probably lost many students to it as have other similarly situation schools. However, Sligo has neither a special program nor is it part of a choice process, so they can only lose students. Classic MoCo benign neglect - robbing highly motivated students and their parents from one school to help another. Unintentionally devestating to a school.

Sligo/Einstein also seem to have an especially high number of Spanish Immersion students who currently get to continue on to B-CC.

So kudos to the Einstein parents who seem to have build such a strong school community against the odds.

Anonymous wrote:
Maybe, but the Whitman or Churchill kid admitted to a top college generally will feel much more comfortable surrounded by high-achieving peers than the Einstein kid who has been a big fish in the tiny pond. At the top university I attended, the kids from Whitman and Churchill tended to excel, while the kids from Silver Spring struggled and probably would have been better off at U. Md. I'm sure there are some exceptions, but why take the risk?

Oh please. I grew up in a hard-luck town and went to a high school that had laughable academics-- much less rigorous than any MCPS high school (it didn't even offer a single AP class). Yes, I was a big fish in a tiny, cruddy pond. Yet I didn't struggle at the Ivy League university I got a full scholarship to (in fact I graduated with honors and went on to graduate work) and I loved being surrounded by "high-achieving peers." Actually the only students who ever made me feel uncomfortable were any number of wealthy, priveleged kids who cared less about learning for its own sake than making money after graduation. It's true I never fit in with those students, but admit it was a good experience and educational to be exposed to a different social milieu than my own.

Richard Montgomery is one of the top high schools in the county, with students applying to be admitted to the IB program. Einstein is not in the same league.

Can you please, however, explain the acronyms to a mom of a younger kid in the Einstein district? What is DCC? "Limited seats" for what? What is RM?

RM is Richard Montgomery, in Rockville.

DCC = downcounty consortium - the five high schools including Einstein, Blair, Northwood, Kennedy, Wheaton. Students within the boundaries participate in a "choice" process and rank their choices; if they do not select their "home" school they must compete for a "seat" in a receiving school. Both Blair and Einstein have typically had more students requesting them than they have seats available. Einstein's robust Visual Arts Center (VAC) is unique in the county and the performing arts program rivals or exceed Blair's in any given year, and the IB program speaks for itself.

Anonymous wrote:I'm also concerned with Sligo. My son's homework would come home with "checks" even though grammatical or mathematical mistakes were present. Feels like the kids are just herded through with no real foundation for high school success. Is this the norm in middle schools these days?

.

Is he currently there? Is Newport Mill better?

I'm also concerned with Sligo. My son's homework would come home with "checks" even though grammatical or mathematical mistakes were present. Feels like the kids are just herded through with no real foundation for high school success. Is this the norm in middle schools these days?

Anonymous wrote:My perspective as a DCC parent is that Einstein's challenges have little to do with issues of school quality or base area community but - 1) limited seats at Einstein have meant that high-achieving kids who want to attend may not get their choice and 2) Sligo MS has been a weak link in recent years and kids who have not been adequately challenged through 8th grade are very receptive to RM's IB or Blair's CAP programs. By comparison, the W's don't have choice programs that allow kids to leave via lottery and also have programs in place such as WJ's APEX to retain kids who would otherwise apply to RM, etc. So perhaps Eistein's admin can take a page from WJ and CAP and allow a core of kids (WJ's APEX is 60 per grade, CAP is 75) to apply to the IB. A program that encourages the kids who want the challenge to be part of a self-selected group would add another attractive option within the DCC.

Finally some real information--THANKS. Can you please, however, explain the acronyms to a mom of a younger kid in the Einstein district? What is DCC? "Limited seats" for what? What is RM? Doesn't Einstein have the IB option?

Frankly, I'm more concerned about Sligo Middle School than Einstein.

My perspective as a DCC parent is that Einstein's challenges have little to do with issues of school quality or base area community but - 1) limited seats at Einstein have meant that high-achieving kids who want to attend may not get their choice and 2) Sligo MS has been a weak link in recent years and kids who have not been adequately challenged through 8th grade are very receptive to RM's IB or Blair's CAP programs. By comparison, the W's don't have choice programs that allow kids to leave via lottery and also have programs in place such as WJ's APEX to retain kids who would otherwise apply to RM, etc. So perhaps Eistein's admin can take a page from WJ and CAP and allow a core of kids (WJ's APEX is 60 per grade, CAP is 75) to apply to the IB. A program that encourages the kids who want the challenge to be part of a self-selected group would add another attractive option within the DCC.

Anonymous wrote:If such a critical mass exists, it's shrinking. Why do you think Silver Spring is so much cheaper than Bethesda? Why do realtors highlight when houses are located in the Whitman or Churchill districts and routinely leave out any school information for homes in the red zone?

There's a much lower demand for similar types of homes in Silver Spring; ergo, lower prices. The market tells a different story than you do.

While it's true SS is cheaper than Bethesda, I have to laugh at this comment. Houses in my neighborhood in SS go for 500-600K. I know that in this area of the country that is not much to many people but it's a little silly to imply that SS is not a desirable place to live that professionals with some money aren't living in and moving to.

We were looking to move last year because we needed a bigger house and didn't feel like the pain of renovation, but wanted to stay in the area. We narrowed our search to our neighborhood and three or four others. Every decent house we looked at in the 550-600K range was snapped up quickly. There is definitely a market here. We ultimately decided to stay and do the renovation (it sucked going through it but totally worth it now) but not everyone in the Einstein district is having trouble selling their houses or are living in a cheap housing market.

The crime is definitely higher - I don't go out at night in my neighborhood for fear of all my government lawyer neighbors mugging me.

Please.